Alien Jungle
(Colonial Scouts Book 2) *****
By Roxanne Smolen

Mold Zombies?! Not exactly, but yeah. I got hooked. Trace is
a colonial scout. They have these portable wormhole devices and explore the
galaxy looking for habitable worlds. I really liked the Stargate movie and all three tv shows, yes including Stargate Universe so the premise was an
easy sell. I received an audible code for a free review copy of this story and
listened to it while trekking nearly unknown country backroads in Upstate New
York.

Trace had a bit of a bungle on his first mission as team
leader, so he’s surprised when his better qualified girlfriend Impeny gets
passed over and he is selected to lead a five person team on a rescue mission. Now Trace needs to save the day and figure out
how to get along with his girlfriend again.

He learns that each person’s traits can either be
troublesome quirks or great strengths, but did he figure it out in time to stop
the mold zombies from taking every last living colonist into the fungus forest?
Don’t be lazy, read it for yourself! Har har har.

On top of Trace’s other difficulties, the colony is run by
non-other that his father, who has a bone to pick with Trace for his career
choice. The colony is about more than money, they are studying the rapid growth
of the indigenous plants to find a cure for galactic famine.

I have not read the first book, but it was very easy to jump
into the adventure with Alien Jungle. This
story is appropriate for all ages and I’m looking forward to listening again with
my nine year old son as soon as we get past our sword and sorcery kick.

I sometimes feel a bit bogged down when a story has multiple
points of view, but there was a really good balance here. We get bits from a
few other characters, but its easy to tell that Trace is our protagonist and
the side POVs often give the reader a glimpse of Trace that he wouldn’t see
about himself.